New Bedford resident Jennifer DeBarros said when she was as a teenager in the early 1990s, she was "engaged in a lot of risky behaviors" and had made "very serious life-altering choices."

One of those choices led to her becoming pregnant during her sophomore year at New Bedford High School.

It led to other choices, including a decision to drop out of high school, pursue a General Education Development diploma, and enroll at Bristol Community College — before many of her former classmates had even graduated from high school.

DeBarros said because she had a son, she decided, "I have to up it up a level."

"It was just about wanting to secure a future for him," DeBarros said. "But I wasn't saying that at 15. I did not want to have him relive the things I did."

DeBarros, who now serves as the director of 3rd Eye Youth Empowerment Inc., a New Bedford organization dedicated to youth empowerment, has been named BCC's 2014 Distinguished African-American Alumnus of the Year.

She will be recognized during BCC's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Community Breakfast, to be held Monday at 8:30 a.m.

DeBarros says she originally wanted to study art when she enrolled at BCC, but her mother told her, "You can't feed your son off of that." DeBarros decided she would become a medical secretary. So she pursued an administrative science degree.

BCC helped place DeBarros at Treatment on Demand Inc., a co-op dedicated to treating substance abuse, HIV and AIDS.

"Not very long after being there, the co-founder saw a light in me, a leadership potential," DeBarros said. He helped me "find my passion ... and see it was a much bigger picture. It wasn't about me as a person."

So DeBarros became director of Treatment on Demand's teen pregnancy program and was exposed to community-level work.

DeBarros says BCC played a large role in overcoming the challenges of being a young mother.

"A lot of the time, when young people make decisions, it's out of hopelessness and a lack of love. When I had my son, it became about having somebody to love and love me in return," DeBarros said.

DeBarros eventually earned her bachelor's degree in sociology at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla. DeBarros is in the process of applying to a graduate program at the University of Massachusetts.

DeBarros said her son, now 21, "is my pride and joy. He continues to be a motivator. We somewhat grew up together."

He is an emergency medical technician, and is now studying sustainability. DeBarros has two other children. Her eldest son is "an excellent role model for those children," she said.

DeBarros said in her 18 years of working with teenagers she's worked with many, and "there are more than a few I still stay in contact with through this day.

Page 2 of 2 - "Some of them aren't even local any more. I think that's the kind of reward in the work. That somebody is living a better life, has a new perspective, and a sense of belonging."

BCC's Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast will also feature speeches and music, followed by an ecumenical service at the Bethel A.M.E. Church in Fall River. The event's keynote speaker will be Myra Young Armstead, an author and history professor at Bard College, whose research emphasis is on urban and African-American history.